Word Origin & History

arbiter c.1500, from L. arbiter "one who goes somewhere (as witness or judge)," from ad- "to" + baetere "to come, go." The spec. sense of "one chosen by two disputing parties to decide the matter" is from 1540s. The earliest form of the word attested in English is the fem. noun arbitress (mid-14c.) "a woman who settles disputes."

Example Sentences for arbiter

Lombardy was made the seat of war; and here the king of Sardinia acted as in some sense the arbiter of the situation.

He took up the Arbiter and went upstairs to Sir William's room.

Being accepted as arbiter, he carefully studied the question of border lines, and conscientiously defined them.

The Arbiter was embodied in Pateley, it was Pateley: that, everybody knew, everybody repeated.

I will choose as an arbiter between us one of my friends—a man who acts on the square, like myself—the Marquis de Valorsay.

"Here you are," returned the arbiter of fashion, as he turned over the leaves.

Arbiter elegantiarum—The arbitrator of elegances; 25 the master of the ceremonies.

Doolin turned with a look of disgust and stared at the arbiter, but said nothing.

The arbiter of peace and war was fain to send superb ambassadors to kick their heels in Dutch shopkeepers' ante-chambers.

Arbiter (7:4) and lis (23:10) are not much more common in Ovid than in the other poets.